THE awful Boxing Day floods in Prestolee, Radcliffe and Summerseat drove home how terrifying Nature can be.

But, like the wholesale flooding in Cumbria, it also showed the resilience of ordinary people and the amazing and immediate caring that communities display in troubled times.

Donations of food and blankets immediately started arriving, for instance, at Holy Trinity Church in Prestolee. Requests on Facebook and other social media prompted many people to bring all kinds of items to help those flooded out.

There was – as witnessed in the Christmas appeals for the homeless and those in need – a wealth of goodwill swiftly available. It was a very natural response from decent people who simply wanted to do something to help.

It doesn’t remove the desperate situations many people now find themselves in, but it does gladden the heart to know that strangers will step forward with genuine concern when disaster strikes.